Field Day at school

Today was field day!! What is field day ??  Its an outdoor game day.. obstical courses, hula hooping, Chuck-a-Chicken, 50 yrd dash, Sack races. and others.... all in 90 deg weather. BigGwrl and I decided to help the Kindergartners instead of the stinky 5th graders. Plus the Kindergarteners got to go in the morning. We had soo much fun!!! The kiddos did soo good!! We won the first round of tug o' war but lost the second. They had some super strong kids in some of those classes!! Middlest came in second in a few events, she tried very hard. Eldest came in second in the 50 yrd dash and her class came in first in the obstical course. But let me tell you what BigGwrl was so worn out from just walking from one event to the other that I had to piggy back ride her back to the car.. AND she fell asleep cleaning her room

MY Smart Child

Eldest found out today that she was put in Advanced Math..... Advanced Science AND Advanced English next year!! Well.. its is contingent on her passing 5th grade.. but since she is A/B honor roll she did.
Can you tell I'm proud of my girl?
Who by the way is to much of a weenie to stick her hand in a jar of Crickets.

Cooking oopsies..

I dont know about you all but I am subscribed to a TON of blogs, Food ones, Scrapbooking ones, and family ones, and Cake Wrecks which really doesn't fit with the others :). Anyways my point that I was getting to is that these people come up with these amazing recipies that just reading aboout make your mouth water. Hello Pioneer Woman... she takes normal foods and makes them just simply out of this world.. BUT you never seem to hear about the messed up foods.. the ones that just didnt quite make the cut. For instance.. Big Daddy TRIED ( because he loves me) to make Hush Puppies.. They were the most horriable hush puppies on the face of the Earth, I LOVE YOU FOR TRYING!! 
    FYI do not put Itallian Seasoning in Hush Puppies
THEN it was my turn. Yea. Middlest and I made Cupcakes...( from the box then) filled the cupcake tins half way and added a plop of Coconut Pecan Boiled icing, Then filled the rest of the way with the cake mix. Well DUH Rachael... the frosting sunk to the bottom and now we cant get the cupcakes out of the tins. THEN I decided to make Big Daddy a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. I actually made a pie crust . It TURNED OUT!! I have NEVER made a pie crust that acutally turned out.. i was so excited!! So while I was waiting for the dough in the fridge to turn out I dug out the Strawberries and Rhubarb They were bad. I did Pilates with Eldest instead.  BTW can you hate your child because she is skinny and can put her foot to her ear? No? Dang it :)

Kindergarten is done

Middlest... *sniff* just finsihed her first *sniff* year of *sniff* School.

She started this year barley able to write her name. Now she knows how to spell everyones names, she can read, write her thoughts down and so many other things. She had an amazing teacher!! I LOVED Ms. B soo much. I couldn't have imagined a better Kindergarten Teacher.. well except Eldest's but since she is now the first lady of Huntsville :) and not a teacher anymore. My little girl had gotten so big and grown in so many ways.

I am so proud of my little girl

Graduation to Middle School

My sweet eldest. Such an angel.

She graduated from Elementry school yesterday. *sniff*

When BigDaddy and I started dating she was four years old. She has always been my special bud. We have a unique bond that could never be copied. She is the perfect combo of Ms. Ducky and I. As we watched her walk across the stage to get her awards we reminised about how our little girl has grown and matured.

We laughed and we cried. I know i know it's the freaking 5th grade not High School.  Still she is growing up, The little girl has grown into a smart young lady. And WE all had a hand in that.

We done good!

Basil, Tomato, Mozzrella Sandwiches

Oh my goodness I am soooo im love!
Today for lunch I was in one of those moods that I didn't want to cook but didn't want a pb&j. Even though it's fresh Peanut Butter. I decided to try a Tomato, Basil, and Mozzrella sandwich. (esp since I wanted to make them for the girls tomorrow) I had to make sure they were yummy first.
All the ingredients were fresh even the cheese.
I am aware this is supposed to be an open face sandwich however I decided to make it more like a grilled cheese. ohhhhhhhhhh
I buttered two slices of fresh Itaillian bread then layered cheese, tomato, and basil sprinkled on a little balsamic Vinegar then topped it. I set it in the fry pan on medium heat then layed a Cast Iron skillet on top to smoosh it down.
Oh My Gosh.
If you haven't ever had one of these sandwiches make one soon. BUT make sure that you use FRESH Mozzrella cheese the kind in water.. Mine was little balls of cheese ,I wouldn't recommend that type because they roll off easily. Also use FRESH basil.
You will think you died and have gone to heaven. I promise. Well unless you are BigDaddy He isn't to fond of fresh basil ( he thinks it tastes like grass)

Strawberry Rhubarb muffins

I have only had Rhubarb once in my life but lately i've been hearing sooo much about how delish it is. I remembered how much I loved the Rubarb strawberry pie I had and kept thinking about it. Rubarb is not something you typically see in our grocery stores but I kept an eye out. Sunday at Earth Fare there was a huge display as soon as you walked in the store, It was a sign!! So I grabbed a few stalkes and contemplated my recipes. I found several I wanted  to try one was for muffins!!!

STRAWBERRY - RHUBARB MUFFINS

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 c. milk

1/3 c. vegetable oil

3/4 c. minced fresh rhubarb

1/2 c. sliced strawberries

6 sm. strawberries, cut in half

Sugar



Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, the baking powder and salt in large bowl. Combine egg, milk and oil in small bowl; stir into flour mixture with fork just until moistened. Fold rhubarb and sliced strawberries into batter. Fill well buttered muffin tins 2/3 full with batter. Press a strawberry half gently into top of each muffin. Sprinkle tops generously with sugar. Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes. Remove from tins; cool on wire racks.

   This recipe made a little over a dozen muffins. I felt it needed more fruit but I always think muffins never have enough fruit!
I hope you try out these muffins, They are soooo good!

ROAD TRIP!

Yesterday Big Daddy decided we needed a short little drive through the country. HA hahah first we found this

Headed for the racetrack. hahah i've never quite seen anything like it.

Then we found a Farmers Market the specializes in Amish foods. They had a machine that squished honey roasted peanuts into Peanut Butter!! BigGwrl spend the whole day asking everyone if they knew that peanut butter comes from Peanuts! It was quite a lesson for her!They also had coke in bottles! We sooo could not pass those up!

 Then Middlest noticed she was not going to make it back to Huntsville in time for her to practice Ice Skating so we pulled out my phone and my GPS and located the nearest Ice Rink to Birmingham. Once we did we headed toward Pelham Alabama to the Civic Ice Complex.

Everyone got skates. BigGwrl was sooo excited until she actually got out on the Ice. Let me tell you something though when she actually let go of the wall she did better than anyone i've ever seen thier first time on the ice. She is so much like Auntie Oregon.  The girls had never seen Mommy skate and I suppose they thought I was joking about all the lessons I took. But once I hit the ice thier mouths dropped. and I really wasnt doing that well hahah it was the skating backwards that really got them.

We did some quick lessons about balance and gliding. She really gained some confidence. I think the eye black had a lot to do with it :) we all need our magic feather.

We didn't stay very long... But we had so much fun!!

Once we were done the girls were getting kinda hungry, We had seen a WHATABUGER sign coming into Birmingham and since that is a TEXAS fav, We decided to have some dinner there. What can I say Big Daddy loves me and knows how much I miss Texas.

The girls LOVED it !! Middlest thought they were even better than Cheeburger-Cheeburger ( NEVER) but it was still nice to hear!

Then we had to start heading home to get Eldest.  After picking her up we decided to check out the Newest grocery store EARTH FARE. OH MY GOSH!!! If you are a local GO THERE. We got soooo many yummy stuff. They had rye flour, rubarb, more make your own peanut butter!! We made Chocolate Peanut Butter!!! OH MAN I sooo wanted so much more stuff!! We had a wonderful day! Thank You BigDaddy for doing this for me.

My Hockey Star

                                                  

From her very first hockey game my Middlest has wanteed to be a hockey player.

For some kids it's not a surprise, but with my little angel the passion just grew.

You'd have to understand my little girl, she's a lover not a fighter. She rarely hits her sisters prefering to use her words instead. She is a lot like her mommy. Books not sports (with the exception of hockey) are her thing. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday... all she wanted was Hockey stuff. She was gonna play hockey this year. I was lucky to find a class for her age group no equipment or ice skating experiance needed!!! So She got hockey classes for her birthday. Grawmpa and Mommy could not have been more happy.

Gwampa used to play hockey so he came to see her first class and show her how to properly put on her skates.  Also to give her a pep talk about being a Big Hockey Girl.

I Love this Picture she just looks like. yo dude sup.

SHE IS UP! Doesn't she loook so cute in her hockey gear and the pink?

She was warned about falling. And she fell A LOT but she did so good! I was very proud! I can't wait until next wednesday. However I think we are going to practice our skating before then.

Saving the world with HAIR?

Yep. Well at least our beautiful beaches. A while back ago I posted a news article on Facebook about how local hair salons were sending the cut hair to Southern states to help soak up the oil. Apparently hair is one of our BEST resourses for this because not only does hair soak up the oil BUT it is reuseable! Once they wash the hair it can be used over and over again. How awesome is that?! I have Big Daddy all ready to go to one of these places when he gets paid, but the girls WOULD NOT get thier haircut and I can't take anymore of mine off. :( HOWEVER ... My beautiful Sister Jay decided this was a worthy cause and decided to cut her hair and donate it to the cause. Now other than trims I don't even know when she had it CUT. It was like down to her bottom! So not only did she do this for our environment but she also talked the lady who cut her hair into sending the cut hair she got!!!  So For the first time I am awarding a gold star for the love of one lady for our planet.

Thank you Aunt Jay for loving our planet!!

A day in the Garden

Every season the Botanical Garden near us has themes. Normally summer is Waterworks with diffrent types of sprinkler systems. HOWEVER , This year they changed it to TREEMENDOUS TREEHOUSES!! BigGwrl was a little antsy today and requested a trip to the garden.

Soo we packed up and headed out. We had so much fun!!

The Tree houses were HUGE!! We did not get to see all of them, it was getting a little hot and field trip kids were there.

The Above picture is the treehouse you see as soon as you enter the garden. It is a HUGE flower pot!!  BigGwrl though it was the coolest thing ever.

This one as you can see is a huge nest! What a great interpertation of a treehouse.

Guess what this is.....

got it?

do ya?

The Wizard of OZ!

BigGwrl loved the trees were covered in can flowers

This one was a swing set treehouse... i didnt get it but it's an interpertation. :)

Next to this was one called the Trading Post. BigGwrl thought it was scarey and so we ran away quickly.

Those were the end of the houses we took pictures of because I forgot my video card. :)

These are the turtles we found in the butterful house.

We were soo tired when we got back to the van. My poor baby was asleep before we got to the Highway.

She did say it was her gweatest day EVER.

Happy Mothers Day momma!!

We are late posting this sorry.

We made such a good Mothers Day for mommy. On Saturday we took mommy to the crick to play in the water. We buyed mommy a big floopy hat and Big sunglasses so she could be fancy when she was reading. We had so much fun. We catched minnows and crawdads!!!!!! We stayed up until tomorrow watching movies with Mommy!!! Then Sunday.. We let her sleep in since she has been sleeping bad lately. Then Daddy sorry Big Daddy went and picked Eldest up from her mommy. Then we were very quiet and cleaned the house. THEN we helped Daddy make breakfast for mommy. We made quieche  that pie thing with scrambled eggs and cheese and ham. It's mommy's favorite in the whole world. Then we went to grammas house and nanas house. Gramma and Pookieboo had a sad mothers day so we did a balloon release for our Great Grammas who are in heaven with God. We watched them go into heaven. Then we went to nanna's house. We had lots of fun. She went on a trip and brought us back cool toys!! Then we went to Ms. Kitty's house and saw her doggie he barks alot and didnt like us. She said her big sissy had a baby on mothers day! That is so cool! These are what we bought mommy for Mothers Day.

  We got mommy roses one for each girl

Middlest made this at school

Daddy bought this for mommy

But we have to go to bed now.
Thank you,
eldest, Middlest, Biggwrl

An OMG Supper

I planned this big yummy dinner for tonight before all the activites of the day dropped on us.
Big Daddy locked the truck keys in the truck and then forgot his badge to geet into work, so he didnt end up getting home until almost 9.
Anyways
the supper was Baked Pork Chops marinaded in Balsalmic Vinegar.. ummm, with farm fresh Asparagus, and mashed sweet potatos with a Balsamic Vinegar. OH MY GOODNESS. I thought okay well this will be one of those iffy meals that I scrounged up out of my head that no one will eat except me.
The Baked Pork chops were simple enough... just put them in a ziplock with the balsamic vinegar and let set anywhere for 2 hours to 24 hours. I did four and they turned out just perfect. Just bake at 400 deg like you normally would.
The Asparagus is just as easy snap it, dump it in a bag with a little evoo and shake. Then lay them out on a cookie sheet , salt and broil until done they turn out crisp and not soggy which in my opinion is nasty.
The Sweet Potatos... okay the recipie called for me to peel and boil them. I have found baking them first is MUCH more tasty and they end up sweeter. Once you have baked them let the potatos cool and peel them.
Pop them in a pan to heat up for a few min. Then dump them in you mixer with a little EVOO and mash if desired add some butter (the recipe called for it i opted not to) then after you have plated the food add just a bit of the balsamic Vinegar on top.
This is a good healthy meal you will not regret making AND it was really easy to do.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Sorry about the postings being so sparse. I wish I could say i've been busy but THANKFULLY i'm not.
I've been enjoying my down time. Spending moments making mud pies with BigGwrl who is getting older everyday. My Mother is finally feeling better. She's been really sick lately and due to my sibs reading this and being so far away, I had opted not to share that information. Things have been going very smoothly in the CRAZY HOUSE. We've had very few exciting  things happen since Sunday's walk.
The boy down the road with a crush on Eldest Story Here decided well who knows what goes on in boy's heads.. i prefer to think he was jelous of Basketball boy. Anyways, While she and basketball boy were riding their bikes over to thier friends house he (crush boy) decided it would be fun to throw his coat over Basketball ball boy's head when he missed he decided to throw it over Eldest's head. This time he didn't miss. She crashed into basketball boy and his bike. Came running back  in the house crying.. and running to the bathroom... saying she would tell me what happened in a sec. My Mommy radar went off. I figgured he had tried to kiss her or something. Nope. Her elbow and hand were covered in gravel and blood. She was trying to clean up before I freaked out. What a sweetie. So I got her cleaned up and gathered all my girlies to go have a little talk with someones mother. hahah . They had decided to leave as soon as Eldest had left ( the mom not knowing what her son had done. Which was fine I'd just send Big Daddy over there. They story get funnier. Big Daddy comes home and talks to Eldest and me to get the whole story about the bus stuff and this current incident. Finally they get home and they headd on over to the boys house. They were tipped off. apparently Basetball boy told Crush boy he was in BIG trouble and Big Daddy was looking to talk to the parents. UH OH. Big Daddy walked on the porch and the parents were waiting.. Crush boy took one look at Big Daddy and broke into TEARS! TEARS!!! Mom was pissed and had already read him the riot act. Told him to apoligize to Eldest.. He was sooo terrified of Big Daddy he wouldn't take his eyes off of him.  Eldest said it was the funniest thing she had every seen!!!  She is sooo My Child.

Great Strides walk

Well our walk was cancled due to bad weather. And Poor Ms. Kitty was sick. We had a great time! We will take better team photos later this week, When Ms. Kitty feels better. Meanwhile. Here is our good news.
We raised over 400.00 for CFF!!! Our goal was set at 200.00 So each family got thier own Great Strides T-shirt on top of those we made. Here are a few photos to tide you over.

Scrapbook night

Yesterday was Big Daddy's nerd night and therefore my scrap- night!!!
We had so much fun last night! It was Ms. Kitty and Mrs. Tea. We had such a good time!
These are our newest creations

All these cards were made with Diecuts with a View WIMSY paper

And last of all...

these are the donor cards for our CF walk.